Washington Square

Washington Square is one of the oldest public spaces in the City of Rochester. It is the site of a range of monuments and has long served as the staging ground for community activism – from Frederick Douglass to the Occupy Movement and beyond. Aside from activist gatherings and passive daytime use, a range of factors has contributed to the park lacking meaningful engagement with the City around it. This is in contrast with new vibrancy brought by redevelopment in the neighborhood and a hyper-passionate community association leading grass-roots revitalization in downtown Rochester.

The Washington Square Park Community Association received a grant from the Community Design Center of Rochester to reimagining the square through a community-based process. The result is a design plan that is sensitive to the cultural history and engages with the 21st century city. Zakery Steele served as Project Manager and lead landscape architect. The resulting design concept engages the social history of the square and adjusts boundaries, gathering spaces, and sight lines to open up Washington Square to the vibrant City beyond.